The purpose of this project was to introduce us to shooting and editing a video. We had to create a promotional video, “Why EdTech at Concordia University?”, for the Educational Technology Program’s 50th anniversary.

The video was designed and produced by my group, which included Salvatore Costanzo Jr., Catherine Farmer, Erika Sullivan, and I.

Design Process

We started by brainstorming ideas of what our concept should be. I suggested using three key points to answer the prompt “Why Ed Tech?”: for its state of the art facilities, practical hands-on projects, and experienced and knowledgeable faculty.  Each key statement was mentioned by someone in the video and was followed by shots representing them.

We walked around the department looking for potential shots. For the “state of the art facilities”, we filmed a few panning shots including the lounge, the interior, and the computer lab. For the “practical hands-on projects”, we filmed students working on a project.  For the “experienced and knowledgeable faculty”, we included a panning shot of the faculty mailboxes and filmed professor Steven Shaw pretending to give a lecture. We then added a shot of me writing on the whiteboard and the event hashtag to highlight the department’s anniversary.

We edited the video using Final Cut Pro. We added a background song from Bensound, which offers royalty free music. We used some effects like speeding up the frame where I am writing on the whiteboard and adding a glare effect.

Collaboration Challenges

We did not encounter any challenges working together. I think we all enjoyed making the video. The only thing we struggled with a little was with the Final Cut Pro software as some of us were not very familiar with it or with the MAC shortcuts.

Personal Reflection

I truly enjoyed this experience as I hadn’t previously worked on a project like this. I felt like I contributed with various skills throughout the process. I am glad that my teammates agreed to my suggested vision for the video and provided their inputs to develop it further. Although I had never used Final Cut Pro, I did not have a hard time picking it up as it is similar to Camtasia, which I am comfortable using. Through this project, I discovered an interest in shooting panning shots.

Reference

Tissot, B (n. d.). Creative minds [Online song]. Bensound.com. Retrieved from https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/creative-minds